Felinityhttp://felinity.co.uk
the musings of a feline cladotherianSun, 17 Jan 2016 17:21:35 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.4.17A deep Connectionhttp://felinity.co.uk/animal-hearted/a-deep-connection/
Wed, 06 Jan 2016 18:05:38 +0000http://felinity.co.uk/?p=59I have always felt a very close connection to wolves. As a child I was fascinated by them, I watched documentary after documentary, spent hours researching their behaviors and habits and social structure. Half my life as a teenager was spent role-playing as a wolf on various forums.
But my connection is much deeper then that. It’s something which is quite hard to explain. I feel I am deeply connected to wolves. We share some sort of link and bond. Among wolves is where I feel safe, right, at home. I feel I possess an understanding of wolf behaviour that runs deeper than most people and doesn’t just rely on the research I’ve done. As though there is some basic intrinsic understanding of wolf within me.

I often experience wolf shifts. I’m often a wolf during my dreams and I’ve had many wolfish shifts, taking on a wolf mentality or feeling a wolf set of ears, tail and paws.
Wolves are by far my favorite animals, I find them beautiful and fascinating and above all I feel a spark, a connection, something that pulls me in and tells me that deep inside we are alike. I relate a lot to wolves, I can see aspects of myself in them.

My connection to wolves has led to a general love of all canines, particularly dogs as these are creatures I’m able to interact with on a daily basis. I’ve even based my career off of dogs, being a dog trainer and dog walker.
I feel my connection to wolves helps me in this a lot – while dogs are really quite different to wolves in many ways there are still some characteristics and body language that carry over. My understanding of wolves makes it easier for me to ‘read’ dogs and so respond to them and train them better.

It is very easy to mistake a connection to an animal for therianthropy and something many of us have done in the past. My first reaction on finding the term therian and realising how much of it applied to me, was to automatically assume I was a wolf. However looking at myself and my feelings I quickly saw my mistake.

My relationship with cats is very different to that of canines. I don’t feel that connection or pull towards cats that I do for wolves. But then, why should I? Identifying as something does not automatically create a connection to that thing (other then the obvious ‘I am this in some way’). While therians/otherkin identify as non-human, we are all still very much human, yet I’m sure many of us do not report feeling a strong connection and draw towards other humans. While identity and connections can overlap, they are very different things.

]]>Contherianthropy & Vacillant Therianthropyhttp://felinity.co.uk/therianthropy/contherianthropy-vs-vacillant-therianthropy/
Wed, 06 Jan 2016 00:06:46 +0000http://felinity.co.uk/?p=52I’ve found many people seem to confuse these terms, so here is a guide to their meanings.

Contherianthropy

Contherianthropy is a singular identity that encompasses both human and non-human aspects, remaining constant and unchanging in nature.

Unlike many therians who commonly feel they have both a human and non-human side, a contherian feels their human and non-human aspects are integrated to such an extent that they can not change. This means that unlike many therians, contherians do not experience any shifts. A shift being a change in state, from human to non-human or vice versa, relies on the fact that there is another aspect of yourself to shift into. For contherians this simply isn’t possible as there is no other aspect to themselves.

The absence of shifting does not mean contherians do not experience any influence from their non-human aspects, rather that these influences are set in nature and their strength does not change or shift over time.

Personally I have several constant feline phantoms. Some of these phantoms are stronger than others but each is set in it’s intensity and never wavers. I also feel as though I have a constant human-feline mindset.
There are times when I may act more human or more feline; during these times I am not shifting, rather choosing to follow one instinct over another. In other words, I’m always feeling the same degree of human and feline, but can pick and choose which course of action to take based on the situation. There may also be times when I don’t consciously choose, such as in an extreme situation where rationality goes out the window or while relaxed and performing an action subconsciously. However I act, the human-feline aspects of myself never change or shift in any way.

As contherianthropy describes an individual’s identity, contherians may experience some forms of shifting that are not limited by identity. For example, as dreams are a creation of the human mind and imagination, a contherian may shift into their theriotype during a dream – or into any other creature for that matter. Similarly astral shifts (shifts that take place in the astral plane) can be experienced as the mind can take on any form it wishes.
Cameo shifting can also affect contherians, as cameo shifts are not linked to a theriotype or personal identity.

Vacillant therianthropy

Sometimes called syntherianthropy or suntherianthropy.

Similarly to contherians, vacillant therians also feel as though they have a non-human identity which is integrated into their human identity. The difference here is that vacillant therians experience this human-animal nature on a sliding scale. While there may not be distinct ‘sides’ to a vacillant therian, the degree of human-animal is not set.

Because of this vacillant therians do experience some degree of shifting, sometimes referred to as sliding shifts. Like contherians it is common for vacillant therians to always feel a partly non-human mindset and/or phantoms, however for vacillant therians these experiences can slide up and down the human-animal scale. Their phantoms may feel stronger or weaker at times and likewise their non-human mindset may also become stronger or weaker.
Some vacillant therians may shift more than others, some may only experience very minor fluctuations.

As with contherians, shifts which are not intrinsically linked to their identity are not affected.

]]>Imagining Without Imageshttp://felinity.co.uk/aphantasia/imagining-with-words/
Mon, 30 Nov 2015 18:21:48 +0000http://felinity.co.uk/?p=19I remember a conversation I had with Snow a while ago. I was trying to take her photo, but she didn’t want me to. I kept asking and she asked me why I wanted her photo so badly.

I told her I like to have photos, so I can look at them sometimes while she’s away. She told me just to close my eyes and think of her.

I didn’t understand at the time. I didn’t know that it’s considered normal to be able to picture a loved ones face in your mind and she didn’t know that this was something I just couldn’t do.

It’s strange, now I’ve found out that visualisation isn’t just a figurative term of speech.

Apparently, most of you reading this will be able to visualise images in your minds eye. This is something I’ve just never done and something I have a hard time understanding.

For me, my thought processes work with words. When I imagine something it’s almost like I write a story in my head. I think of facts and features and related things that I have memorised.

When I close my eyes and imagine a sunset, I can’t picture how it would look. I can’t summon up the orange hues that tint the sky or the pink hazy edges as it dips below the horizon. I can’t see the clouds that seem to glow in the fading light, nor can I picture the long, dark shadows cast by the silhouetted trees or the way the water ripples with light and shadow. I can imagine it though, in words, as I just typed.

I know what a sunset looks like, I can describe it and think back to the places I’ve stood and watched the sun go down. I’ve seen many sunsets, but while I can remember the descriptions of how they looked I’m unable to bring those images back into my mind. I can’t relive the experience.